Mechanism for opening and closing an offset disk harrow

ABSTRACT

An agricultural implement having front and rear gangs of earthworking tools being interconnected in such a manner that they may easily be adjusted from a transport to a field operating position and also be laterally adjusted with respect to each other to provide the proper tool relationship between said front and rear gangs of earth-working tools for various field operating conditions.

United States Patent Fueslein [451 Feb. 22, 1972 I [54] MECHANISM FOROPENING AND CLOSING AN OFFSET DISK HARROW [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3,519,085 7/ 1970 Heckathom et al. ..172/597 2,406,866 9/1946 Thompson 172/596 3,250,333 5/1966 Day ..172/126 3,139,199 6/1964Auwelaer ..37/103 3,448,535 6/1969 Haynes ..37/103 3,371,435 3/1968Miller ..37/103 2,626,552 1/1953 Oehler et a1. 172/316 2,237,884 4/ 1941Lysedahl ..172/320 2,860,471 11/1958 Welch ..172/568 2,334,455 11/1943Thomas ..172/320 2,759,312 8/1956 Rasmussen et al.. .....172/5803,439,750 4/1969 McKay ..172/581 2,608,813 9/1952 Frank ..172/5972,608,814 9/1952 Frank ..172/596 Primary Examiner-Robert E. PulfreyAssistant Examiner-C. W. Hanor Attorney-Floyd B. Horman 1 ABSTRACT Anagricultural implement having front and rear gangs of earth-workingtools being interconnected in such a manner that they may easily beadjusted from a transport to a field operating position and also belaterally adjusted with respect to each other to provide the proper toolrelationship between said front and rear gangs of earth-working toolsfor various field operating conditions.

1 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDFEB 22 I972 3. 643. 743

SHEET 1 BF 2 INVENTOR JEROME L. FUESLE/N PAIENTEUFEBZZ I972 3.643.743

saw 2 or 2 INVENTORS 42 W8 JEROME 1.. FUESLEIN MECHANISM FOR OPENING ANDCLOSING AN OFFSET DISK HARROW BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to agricultural implements andparticularly to disk harrows. Specifically, the invention relates to adisk harrow of the offset type. Disk harrows of the classcontemplated bythis invention comprise front and rear disk gangs interconnected at oneend for horizontal swinging between a parallel or transport position andan angled or operating position. It is well recognized in the art thatin order to provide for proper soil preparation, provisions must be madefor laterally adjusting one of the gangs relative to the other toprovide a smooth finished soil surface such that the rear disk gangfills the furrows created by the front disk gang. In the past, suchlateral adjustments had to be made each time the operator changedinangled operating position of the harrow; Also, after any lateraladjustment was made the operator was unable to return the harrow gangsto a parallel or transport position without first repositioning a numberof fasteners and complicated linkages used to move the gangs relative toeach other to a position which would allow the gangs to come together ina parallel relationship for transport.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a means formoving the gangs of a disk harrow relative to each other whilemaintaining any preset lateral adjustment for'various angled operatingpositions of the harrow.

It is also an object of this invention to provide means for moving thegangs of a disk harrow relative to each other such that for any'amountof lateral adjustment'the gangs will always return to a parallelrelationship for transport.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I- is a perspective view of thedisk harrow shown in an operating position;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the harrow equipped with this invention showingthe parallel relationship of the front and rear disk gangs when theimplement is in its transport position, and showing the improvement inthe form of means for moving the gangs into an angled or operatingposition, after selecting the DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSIn the drawings the numerals l and- 11 refer, respectively, to the frontand rear sections of a disk harrow. The front harrow section consists oftransversely aligned disk gang sections 12 and 13 comprising alignedsupporting frame members 14 and 15 upon which is mounted a plurality ofdiscs 16 the concave sides of which are directed to the right of thedirection of travel in FIG. 1. The disk gang sections 10 and 11 are ofconventional construction and are provided with a hitch structure 17connected to frame members 14 and 15 for attachment to a tractivevehicle, not shown.

Gang sections 12 and 13 are flexibly connected, due to the substantialwidth of the implement and also to allow the implement to follow thecontour of the ground, by the provision at their inner ends of clevisesl8 and 19 mounted on a horizontal longitudinally extending pivot pin 20.

The rear disk gang 11 is constructed similarly to the front gang l0 andincludes a pair of transversely aligned disk gang sections 21 and 22comprising rear frame members 23 and 24 carrying a plurality of discs25, the concave faces of which are directed to the left of the directionof travel in FIG. 1. The rear gang 11 is flexibly constructed in thesame manner as the front gang 10 and clevises 26 and 27 are secured tothe inner ends of rear frame members 23 and 24, respectively, andmounted upon a horizontal longitudinally extendingpivot pin 28.

The front harrow section 10 and the rear harrow section 11 areinterconnected at one end by beam member 30. The beam member 30 ispivotallyconnected to the front harrow section 10 by pivot member 31 andis pivotally connected to the rear harrow section 11 by pivot member 32.

To provide for the lateral adjustment between the front harrow section10 and the rear harrow section 11, an adjustable length member 33(asbest shown in FIG. 2) in the form of a turnbuckle 34 has one end 35pivotally mounted on a lug 36 secured to and projecting rearwardly fromframe member 15 at a point substantially between the forward portion ofbeam member 30and the end 37 of frame member 15. The other end 38 of.turnbuckle 34 is pivotally mounted on a lug 39 secured to and projectingforwardly from frame member 24 at a pointdiagonally opposite from lug36. Changing the length of the adjustable length member 33 laterallyadjusts the rear harrow section 11 with respect to the front harrowsection 10 because thefront harrow section will remain stationary inthat it is attached to a. tractive vehicle, not shown, through the hitchstructure'l7. In-this construction, the longitudinal axis of theadjustable-length member 33 and the beam member 30 intersectforming aneffective 'pivot point between the front harrow section 10 and the rearharrow section 11 causing the front harrow section angle A and the rearharrow section angle B, as shown in FIG. 3, to be proportional therebymaintaining thelateral adjustment, for proper disc relationship, forvarious selected angled'operating positions such as shown in FIG. 3.

Control of the movement of the harrow sections 10 and II from a parallelor transport position to a selected angled operating positionisaccomplished, as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, by means of a flexiblelinking member including a hydraulic ram 40comprising a cylinder 41 anda piston rod 42, and first and second horizontal links 44 and 47respectively. The cylinder4l of ram 40 is pivotally connected to a U-shaped bracket 43 which is affixed to a first horizontal link or bracingbar 44 which is pivotally mounted at one end to a U- shaped lug 45secured to and projecting rearwardly from frame member 14. The other endof the first link 44 is pivotally attached to a U-shaped bracket 46which is rigidly attached to one end of a second horizontal link orbracing bar 47. The opposite end of the second link 47 is pivotallyattached to a U-shaped lug 48 secured to and projecting forwardly fromthe frame member 23. The piston rod 42 of the hydraulic ram 40 ispivotally attached to the end portion 49 of the arm 46. The arm 46serves as a lever which will change the angle between the front and rearharrow sections 10 and 11 when the hydraulic ram 40 is actuated. FIG. 2shows the front harrow section 10, comprising frame members 14 and 15,the rear. harrow section-11', comprising frame members 23 and 24, in theparallel or transport position. In this position, the piston rod 42 of'the' ram 40 is extended. To'change the operating angle between thefront harrow section 10 and the rear harrow section 11 the piston rod isretracted until the desired angled operating position is reached, asshown in FIG. 3.

The novel flexible linking member described above is used to open andclose a disk harrow from a parallel or transport position to an angledor operating position no matter how much the rear harrow section 11' hasbeen laterally adjusted relative to the front harrow section 10. With aconventional disk harrow, the front and rear disk gangs would close to aparallel position for only one lateral adjustment of the rear gangrelative to the front gang, unless means were provided to physicallymove whatever conventional linkage was used to control the operatingangle between the front and rear disk gangs. Applicants invention allowsthe rear gang to be laterally adjusted relative to the front gang andeliminates the requirement of the additional adjustment of the linkageused to control the opening and closing of the harrow gangs. Applicantsnovel linkage is designed so that an imaginary line drawn between thefront and rear pivot points located on brackets 45 and 48, respectively,is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the hinge member so that for anyamount of lateral adjustment the front and rear gangs will always remainparallel to each other when they are returned from the angles operatingposition to the parallel transport position.

What is claimed is:

1. In a disk harrow having front and rear disk gangs the combinationcomprising, a rigid member pivotally attached to and interconnectingsaid front and rear disk gangs, an adjustable member pivotally attachedto and interconnecting said front and rear gangs proximately locatedwith respect to said rigid member to laterally adjust the rear gangrelative to the front gang, said adjustable member and said rigid memberdisposed within vertical planes which intersect between said gangs, aflexible linking member pivotally attached to and interconnecting saidgangs at the opposite end of said gangs with respect to said rigidmember, and adapted for horizontal swinging of said gangs from an angledor operating position to a parallel or transport position regardless ofthe amount of lateral adjustment between said front and rear gangs asprovided by said adjustable member, said linking member comprising, afront beam pivotally attached at one end to said front gang, a hydrauliccylinder extending along having one end attached to said front beam anda rear beam pivotally attached at one end to said rear gang and havingits other end pivotally connected to the unattached end of said frontbeam and said hydraulic cylinder.

1. In a disk harrow having front and rear disk gangs the combinationcomprising, a rigid member pivotally attached to and interconnectingsaid front and rear disk gangs, an adjustable member pivotally attachedto and interconnecting said front and rear gangs proximately locatedwith respect to said rigid member to laterally adjust the rear gangrelative to the front gang, said adjustable member and said rigid memberdisposed within vertical planes which intersect between said gangs, aflexible linking member pivotally attached to and interconnecting saidgangs at the opposite end of said gangs with respect to said rigidmember, and adapted for horizontal swinging of said gangs from an angledor operating position to a parallel or transport position regardless ofthe amount of lateral adjustment between said front and rear gangs asprovided by said adjustable member, said linking member comprising, afront beam pivotally attached at one end to said front gang, a hydrauliccylinder extending along having one end attached to said front beam anda rear beam pivotally attached at one end to said rear gang and havingits other end pivotally connected to the unattached end of said frontbeam and said hydraulic cylinder.